Be My Mentor (ARCHIVED)
by SilverAce06
Summary: After his future was rewritten, Silver found himself in a new world with people claiming to know and care about him. Memory scattered, the hedgehog tries to embrace the sudden changes, but feels out of place. Searching for his purpose in this new world, Silver finds an old friend who remembers everything the way it used to be. (Post Sonic 06 / Possible Canon)
1. An Incomplete Absolution (Prologue)

**Note: For anyone re-reading this chapter, please note that this is the updated version (March 14, 2020)! Thanks!**

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_Solaris' dying flames lit up the heavens like shooting stars, fading away into the dark abyss. We had defeated it, once and for all._

_Neither Sonic Shadow, or I said a word as we landed weightlessly on the ground, our Super forms casting brilliant beams of gold on the stone. The last remnants of the once-powerful god, Solaris, exploded in a supernova of white._

_Whether or not I had fulfilled my purpose, I did not know. I like to think that I did._

_But in those last few moments, as I faded into oblivion, a single thought entered my mind._

_"This is my absolution."_

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**Prologue - An Incomplete Absolution**

Waves. Soft, gentle motions pulling me in and back out again. My end...an endless sea; my mind...finally...at peace.

Slipping in and out of consciousness, I lay prone, letting the water wash over me. It was...almost ironic; having spent my whole life surrounded by flames, to exist in death surrounded by the currents of the ocean.

I inhaled the salty mist, listening as the water crashed lightly on the shore. In that moment, it felt almost as if the water started to cool, icy tendrils of liquid clawing at my body. The serenity of my infinite sea...tainted. Vague wonder entered my mind. _The shore...the mist...the coldness..._

Golden eyes shot open, my breathing sharp and panicked.

I was alive.

xxx

"..._CHAOS_..."

I sat up in the shallow water, hand reaching for my forehead. My muscles were stiff and my head throbbed. The dull, aching pain shuddered through my body as I let out a series of quick, gasping breaths.

As my vision adjusted to the darkness, I noticed a light drizzle of rain coming from the night sky overhead; the end of a storm. I was alone, cold ocean water brushing against my fur as a tidal wave of thoughts burst into my mind, drowning out the rest of the world. They all revolved around a single question.

_How am I not...dead?_

Memories blurred together into meaningless noise; the ringing in my ears was deafening. I couldn't focus. I couldn't think. Silent questions bombarded my head, only to be left unanswered.

Fists clenched, I willed myself to stand. I tried to brush the sandy water off, but it didn't do much. Shells crunched as I dragged my feet along the sandy shore, and palm leaves rustled in the wind overhead. The clouds shifted, moonlight finally breaking through and covering the beach in a ghostly glow. As the last few raindrops fell, I shivered.

I stopped, finally registering what I was doing. "Where am I even going?"

A grimace formed on my face, and I squeezed my eyes shut. The question lingered. _What am I doing? What am I even supposed to do?_

Just like everything else, I didn't know.

I just didn't know.

The night crawled on as I lay under one of the palm trees at the edge of the beach, my back resting on the soft, pale sand. Past the leaves overhead, I could see the stars. Their lights twinkled down at me, smiling. They were just the way I had remembered, which for some reason, made me feel a little safer. The stars, of all things, were unchanging.

I spread my arms to the side, feeling the cool dunes under my gloves. The light breeze smelled of salt, and I listened to the soft sounds of the sea. I relaxed as my mind started to clear, the voices in my head quieting themselves. The questions I had, however, weren't any closer to being answered. This world, this time, what was it? Surely it couldn't be mine, right?

Then, did that mean I failed?

The gentle tug of exhaustion clouded my thoughts. Sighing, I promised myself that I would figure things out in the morning. My eyelids drooped and the shadows blurred together. The darkness closed in, and I fell into an empty, dreamless slumber.

xxx

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**Prologue (Bonus) - Mission: Chaos**

The light mist of early morning enveloped the concrete jungle that was Central City. It was a metropolis that never slept; flashing lights and the noise of vehicles on the busy streets were a constant in a place like this. One quickly learns to tune out the cacophony, as he had done.

Lost in his thoughts, Shadow barely noticed the subtle movement of his shoe on the gas pedal or the way he shifted his weight as he turned. He'd traveled these streets so often that it had become automatic, instinctual even. Glancing up at the now-green traffic light, he eased his motorcycle forward, following the lethargic flow of cars.

Past the light, he noticed the beginnings of daylight slowly stealing the few visible stars from the sky. It illuminated the wet puddles of last night's rain, the burning colors of sunrise reflecting off of them. The air warmed ever so slightly, the small drops of dew soon to disappear in the heat of the day. The hedgehog liked to take time to notice the small things like that. As crowded and noisy as the world could be, it was sometimes just so beautiful.

A ringing beep from his bike interrupted his musings. The projection screen opened up at the top of his motorcycle's console; it was a call from the Commander. Shadow hesitated for a moment, the Commander almost never called him directly. Looking at the screen for a moment, he clicked the 'accept' option and pulled over into a dimly lit alleyway off the main road. His drive to work could wait.

_"Agent Shadow, I apologize for the sudden call, but I have an urgent matter that I need to speak with you about."_

His voice was steady, but he could see the panic in his boss' eyes. It made him tense up, the quills on his back stiffening ever so slightly.

_"Last night, there was a short thunderstorm. It had seemed fairly ordinary, despite its abrupt appearance. However, around midnight there was a strange...er...well, I'm not entirely sure what it was. From what I do know, the object collided with the Earth somewhere on the west outskirts of Soleana. Extremely high and unusual chaos energy readings were tracked as it came in contact with the planet, but even using that as a lead, our agents couldn't find any trace of a meteor."_

The dark hedgehog looked down at the gold rings on his wrists. There were only three things he knew of that could emit enough chaos energy to worry the G.U.N.: the chaos emeralds, the master emerald, and powerful chaos control. The government was in possession of the first two, and chaos control to that extent was banned years ago. Something was very wrong.

_"Due to your connection with chaos energies, I'm assigning you to track down whatever caused the crash. I already sent you the general coordinates and information I have on the object, and your other missions have been put on hold until this is found. Do you understand?"_

"Yes. Permission to access the chaos and master emeralds?"

_"Granted," _the Commander paused for a moment before he lowered his voice, his tone slightly warmer. _"...thank you Shadow."_

The G.U.N. agent shook his head ever so slightly before ending the video-call. There was no need for thanks. Whatever caused the energy outburst had to be stopped, and he was the G.U.N.'s best bet at doing so. Still, his gratitude was appreciated, especially with Shadow's own...questionable history.

He looked around the run-down street for a minute, watching as the rays of the sun began to make the alleyway almost glow. A sense of dread washed over him as he stood alone in the growing light. Of course, it had to be in Soleana. And it had been so long since he had last dealt with chaos-powered threats. Years. Maybe even decades. A vision of a smirking Sonic holding a green chaos emerald popped its way into his head. He pushed it away, grimacing. Other, more faded memories threatened to drown out his thoughts, but the agent forced them back too. Emotions were such delicate things; this was neither the time nor the place to try to make sense of his.

Raising the kickstand, he let out a small sigh. "Soleana, here I come."

xxx

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**Note:** Expect longer chapters to come; as stated above, this was mainly just a prologue of sorts. Any feedback or suggestions are greatly appreciated!


	2. Unknown Remembrance

**Review Replies!**

**Vegetass - **Thank you so much! Like, I can't express how much that means to me! That prologue took me FOREVER to write. Now, there's just a whole bunch of random, unused concepts for it chillin' in my drafts. (And no, I am, very surprisingly, not a god. Or at least I don't think so...)

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**Note: **For anyone wondering, I've finally got an upload schedule! *cheers in nerd* Expect another chapter every 2 weeks or so!

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**Unknown Remembrance**

The morning sun danced in and out of the palm leaves, its rays flooding me with warmth. I rolled over, reveling in the heat of the air around me. It was so different from Crisis City, whose humid, smoky air lay like a thick smog over the ground. This world, this warmth, it was...almost comforting; a soft blanket of sunshine.

My eyes fluttered open, and I held a hand up to block the sun. Squinting through the misty air, I froze, transfixed by the sky. The sunrise was breathtakingly beautiful...like the clouds themselves burned with flames. The bright scarlet blazed into gold, mixing with the small pieces of indigo night. A sky on fire.

With a grunt, I forced myself up, back leaning against the scratchy wood of the palm tree. Every fiber of my being ached. I didn't know what fighting a giant fire god did to a hedgehog, but it sure didn't feel so great.

I stretched for a bit and looked around the beach. It was still deserted, save for a few scavenging birds near the shoreline. They circled in the air, squawking as they dove into the salty sea below. The sun, the sky, the birds... It reminded me of another place, another time.

xxx

"They're called seagulls," Blaze had explained, pointing at a white bird overhead. We were sitting on a wooden dock on the outskirts of Soleanna, simply watching the ocean. I hadn't realized just how huge it really was until I had came to Sonic's world. Blaze seemed to, though.

"The birds will circle their prey and then skim the top of the water to catch it."

Sure enough, one of the gulls swooped down, stopped just on the surface the ocean, and snatched a small fish with its beak. The thing shrieked happily before flapping its wings again and soaring off into the sky.

"That's...mildly interesting," I said, resting a chin on my fist and faking a serious expression.

Blaze looked back at me, eyes narrowed. "Don't you mock me."

I snorted and nudged her a little. She laughed, ponytail swaying in the breeze.

"You know we're on a serious mission here, right?"

"Yeah, but I still like to get a smile out of you every now and then."

She just shook her head and kept smiling. I really did like that smile, it made her whole face light up. Chaos, she was beautiful.

"No, it's actually pretty cool how they dive down like that," I admitted. As annoying as their noises were, the birds were still pretty impressive. Like loud, whiny, little angels. "How do you know so much about seagulls anyways?"

She bowed her head, ears closing in a bit. The light in her golden eyes faded. _Did I say something wrong?_

"We should...probably get going now."

The air seemed colder as she stood up, stern-faced and stiff. I followed suit.

The gulls' squawking rang in my mind the whole way back to town.

xxx

I never did ask her what happened that day. I should have.

I kept watching the gulls for a few minutes, their white feathers nothing more than a silhouette against the rising sun. The temperature started to rise, signal of a new day dawning. I tried to keep my questions at bay while I strolled along the waterline, kicking the occasional shell out into the sea. I just wanted to enjoy the peace before I had to face whatever was in hold for me now, but for some reason, I just couldn't let myself.

_"What are you going to do now now that you're on your own?"_

The question was a nagging voice in my head. Anxiety. Doubt. Fear. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't seem to block it out. It happened all too often. "Shut up."

_"After all that effort, did you even end up saving the world from doom?"_

I kicked another shell out into the water. I hated not knowing. And I hated the way I couldn't let myself stop thinking about it. Tearing my eyes from the ocean, I thought back to last night's promise. I needed answers. Knowing where to even get them, that was the problem.

_"Blaze would know what to do."_

A grimace etched its way into my features. She would. She always did. Blaze was just like that. My vision blurred, teardrops welling up in my eyes. I hadn't been able to save her. Now I was alone. _It's my fault. It's all my fault._ She should have been here with me.

I looked up at the distorted sky, pushing down my feelings. She would have liked this sunrise. I could almost hear her soft voice calling me naive.

_"But I've always liked that about you."_

Desperately, I clung to the hope that she was still out there somewhere. I knew it was foolish, but it's what kept me going. Sometimes I questioned if it was Blaze that had kept me going all along. _Probably._

I kept walking.

As the minutes passed, the morning sun rose slowly over the water, casting its beams on the world below. I had ruled out going into the dense brush at the edge of the beach, being that there was no clear path through it. So instead, I strolled along the shoreline, not sure where I was going, but needing something to do to feel productive.

My boots crunched against the wet sand, each step slightly clearing my head. I was grateful; I needed to be alert and ready, not wallowing in has-happeneds.

Eventually, the beach faded, white sand giving way to a rocky shore. Dark, water-worn boulders jutted out of the sea. Rays of sunlight bounced off their faces, shining eerily in the light fog. Heavy waves crested and crashed against their surfaces, the ringing sound vibrating through the air. A sheer, rocky cliff overlooked the shore, its emerald moss practically gleaming in the sunlight. The whistling and chirping of the birds above became louder as the day moved forward, the creatures of this place beginning to wake.

As I moved forward, the watery spaces between them became almost too far for me to cross on foot. I looked up at the mossy rocks, and chill ran down my spine. The boulders...they seemed almost...unnatural. Too...perfect

I stopped at a particularly large one, placing my hand on its rough, wet surface. A few bits flaked off, carried towards the sea by the gentle, salty breeze. Looking closer at the cracks, I noticed how perfectly they were aligned; it was freakishly grid-like. I traced one with my finger, following it to the next.

Were they...walls?

Confusion racked my brain. _I need a better look at this...a higher viewpoint._

_My powers._

Stepping back, I let out a sigh. It was all about focus, quite simple if done right, but disastrous if done wrong. The patterns on my gloves and bracelets shone with cyan as I concentrated on what I wanted to do. Three words came to mind.

"Breathe." _Steady and even. Slow, but not forced; calm._

"Will." I focused on my form. Every quill, every fold of fabric, I knew where it was. I pictured what I wanted to happen. I prepared for how I would control it.

"Execute."

I let out a burst of psychic energy, the air around me vibrating with the shock. I hovered, hands glowing, as the aura lifted my higher above the sea. I grinned a little, despite the circumstances. No matter how many times I did it, the feeling of being able to just...defy gravity...it always got me.

The ground below faded together into a mass of slate and green. Looking forward, the rest of the area was covered in the decrepit ruins. Some rose hundreds of feet high, having blended in with the cliff from where I was standing a moment ago. Some were rounded, points spiraling towards the sky. They looked to all be part of the same, huge structure.

A weird sense of deja vu came over me, almost like a grieving sadness. Folding my arms, I floated there for a few seconds, watching as the tides washed over the stones below. I couldn't figure out why it seemed so familiar.

I dropped down to one of the drier parts of the structure. Pillars rose above my head and into the mist above, a broken pathway cutting between them. Pieces of crumbling concrete littered the floor, most likely some sort of collapsed roof. An air of regality surround the place; it had obviously belonged to someone important at one point. The claps of my wet footsteps echoed through the hall as the water lapped around the bottom of my boots. The further I went, the stronger the sense of dread became. Yet for some reason I felt just as inclined, if not more, to continue making my way through the flooded ruins.

I descended down a marble staircase and into it's vault, eventually resorting to using my powers to cast light on the walls. Strangely enough, the water was barely any deeper here. Endless tunnels led off the main branch and were swallowed by the darkness of a place long abandoned. The rotting smell of mildew filled the cavernous underground, where decaying portraits and other adornments lay discarded on the floors. Glass lights were shattered, hanging from rusting wires. Ornate vases and carved stone benches sat crumbling in the endless dark. The silence here was so thick that not even the sounds of the waves above could penetrate it.

The closer I came to the heart of the complex, the more I felt that strange sense of familiarity. Curiosity bubbled up in my mind. It seemed as if I knew which turns to take, where each path led and which one would take me to wherever it was that I was going. Like I was on auto-pilot. (Blaze would use that phrase when I was zoning out. It tended to happen more often than I would like to admit.)

How I knew what to do, I wasn't sure. It worried me a little.

_I...should turn back. There's no telling how much disturbance these walls can handle. And there's obviously no one left down here._

Doubt. It was a reasonable concern, but I still felt that weird sort of remembrance; it kept pulling me forward. Curiosity could really be a bit of a curse sometimes. Though, a part of me questioned whether this was just curiosity or something more.

So, I followed it.

The winding stone tunnels turned to metal as I plummeted even further into the depths of the ruins. I could see now why the water level hadn't risen here, there were metal grates on the floor acting as drains. I wasn't sure what they were originally supposed to be for, but I assumed it wasn't this.

All the more reason to question just what exactly this place was.

What felt like miles later, the steel columns came to an abrupt end, a corroded electronic gateway closing off the rest of the corridor. A metal sliding door and touchscreen entry dock lay in my path, both damaged from years of neglect. Something in the back of my mind caused me to pause here, as if there were things beyond the doorway that I'd rather not remember. I backed away, not bothering to hide the stiffness of the motion.

I breathed out a heavy sigh, the noise echoing in the stale air around me.

My heart was beating way faster than it should have been. The room felt much colder than I knew it was.

_Why am I so worried?_

"I'll be fine. There is no reason to be panicked. It's fine," I didn't believe myself. "I'm fine."

Teeth gritted, I pried the doors open with my psychokinesis, letting the light of it illuminate the room below.

All at once, I finally understood why this place seemed so eerily familiar.

A broken, tarnished metal platform wrapped around the walls, overlooking the wreckage of the pit below. Everything was dusted in a dark ash, but I knew what was underneath. The smoke from so long ago still lingered, and I could make out the vague shape of a centerpiece. A twisted, misguided experiment gone wrong.

"...Kingdom Valley..." The words were flat, emotionless.

"The Solaris Project..."

My mind took over. I was no longer standing above a chamber filled with wreckage. It was filled with light. Fire. The explosions. The debris and shock that pinned people to the floor. The screams that stole the victims' last breaths. The split being in the center escaping into the comfort of dark.

And the Duke.

He was wrapped over his daughter, shielding her from his own creation. Shards of glass embedded themselves into his back, tearing his robe to shreds.

I had thought he was dead. But he held out long enough to bestow one last gift to his beloved Elise. One that he had hoped to never burden anyone with. One so strong that if it were to be released, it would destroy the world.

Chaos Emerald suspended above her, Elise became the vessel for Iblis. The King's face, his expression was so pained, so guilt-ridden I could hardly bear to watch. His voice wavered as he performed the sealing ritual. His daughter lay limp and helpless on the marble slab as the time-bomb was set.

And his final words.

He collapsed to the ground, tears streaming down his cheeks. A gentle hand stroked his dear Elise while the last of his life faded. He entrusted her to me, his last request. Weak and fatally wounded, the Duke of Soleanna said his final goodbye.

"Remember, be brave," his eyes smiled as the light left them.

"And..."

"Live..."

"Happily."

I snapped back to the present, noticing now that I had backed away from the room. A thousand questions bombarded my head, pounding with the force of a jackhammer. My surroundings became an indistinct blur of gray. How was this here? Hadn't that past been erased?

"What in Chaos' name..."

_WHERE ON MOBIUS AM I?_


	3. Unanswered Questions

**Review Replies:**

**Mitha Sentro - **Thank you! I had fun coming up with a way to describe Silver using his powers; there wasn't really boundaries put in place by the canon, so I got to have a little creative freedom. Also, as a triple s fan myself, I get where you're coming from, but don't worry, Sonic is sure to show up in some form or another. :)

**Itsmepeme - **Thanks so much! I'm looking forward to continuing writing this story too!

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**Note: **Sorry if this chapter's a little short / boring, I had really bad writer's block for a couple of days. Next one's sure to be more exciting!

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**Unanswered Questions**

The room seemed to darken as ringing in my ears became louder, and my heart pounded in my chest. I squeezed my eyes shut, fists clenching the empty air. Through the anguish, it struck me once again just how lonely I truly was. Alone and desperate for an explanation.

Slumping against the cold metal, I stared into the darkness, letting the thoughts I had held back break free. There was only one way to look at this, that being from an analytical standpoint (_that's what Blaze would've done). _Here's what made sense: The Solaris Project couldn't have happened. That whole timeline had been erased. Mephiles and Iblis were wiped out of existence, so there would have been no reason for the experiment to happen in the first place. _It never happened._

And yet, the evidence was right in front of me, throwing any logic out the window. This was Kingdom Valley; I was sure of it. And that was the room where Solaris had been split. And then there was the flashback, the room was obviously a trigger, leaving no doubt that the project had, in fact, still happened.

It didn't make sense. And for someone that had lived a life of unanswered questions, to be stuck back at square one...It broke me a little.

I ran a hand through my quills and tried in vain to dout my panic. This incessant rambling that echoed in my mind continued, leaving me devoid of any sense of reasoning. _There has to be a reason, an explanation or something. I couldn't have just...failed-_

No. There was no way after quite literally destroying a timeline that Solaris could still be here. Yet, something in the back of my mind kept nagging at me, taunting that maybe Mephiles was still out there, waiting to strike again. Biding his time before he was strong enough to destroy the world. Again.

I groaned in fearful exasperation, breaking the tense silence of the hall. Ignorance is bliss, is it not?

Well, I sure as heck didn't think so.

I didn't know how long it was that I sat there, my knees tucked to my chest and blank stare burning into the darkness. Minutes, an hour, two hours? The same, endless cycle of thoughts invaded my mind. _Why did the experiment happen? Was Solaris still alive? How was I even alive?_ It didn't matter; no matter how many times I thought about it, the questions pertaining to just how any of this existed led me back to the same, infuriating conclusion; I had no idea.

Letting out a rattled sigh, I blinked a couple of times, finally able to break free from the storm raging in my mind; it was chaotic, so contrasting to the hollow, silent steel that encaged me. I couldn't just stay here. I had to try something, anything at all to quench the confusion. A plan. I bit my lip. For a brief moment, a horrible feeling came over me. I envied my past self, so sure of what I wanted, confident that my destiny was to defeat Iblis. To erase Solaris. I scolded myself for even just thinking it. This was a blessing, being able to live free of the fiery hatred of my doomed world. _Because this is my absolution..._

_Right?_

Pushing against the rusting wall, I turned back, leaving behind the wreckage of the experiment and hopefully, my worry. I needed to get away, the smoke must've been playing with my head. Yeah, that was it. Definitely not having a mental breakdown. Nope.

I watched my cyan aura light the cracks in the flaking metal, continuing my trek through the dark labyrinth. The corridors looked more foreboding this time around, now that I knew what their significance was. Now that I knew why they were so empty. My pulse quickened as footfalls pounded on the grates below, accentuating the hallways speeding past. I hadn't realized I was running, and an invisible blush formed, warming my cheeks. I just felt...almost jumpy, the urge to escape from the claustrophobic underground taking hold. Reluctantly, I slowed to a more manageable pace while a plan started forming in my mind.

_I have to find civilization. Like somewhere populated, somewhere I can get clues as to where or, maybe more importantly, when, I am._

Considering that in Sonic's world, Kingdom Valley was fairly close to Soleanna, I could try to search from the air to look for it. Of course, that also came with its fair share of difficulties. Like whether there was anyone left in the city (or the planet), or whether the city even existed to begin with, but it was a start. Focusing back on my surroundings, I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding. The walls became a mix of monotonous gray as I sped past, running this time not out of fear, but instead, determination.

xxx

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**Meanwhile...**

The closer he got to Soleanna, the stronger the pull of pure, Chaotic energy became. It hadn't taken nearly as long as he'd expected to get the two Emeralds that G.U.N. had allowed him from the vault in Central City, and the higher-ups there had seemed a little on-edge, despite their futile attempts to hide their fear from him. Shadow understood why, of course. Although he would never admit it out loud, the agent was more than a bit nervous himself. Maybe that was why he had decided to take his motorcycle instead of using the pair of Chaos Emeralds to teleport there. He wasn't sure, nor willing to dwell on the possibility.

Speeding down the empty back-roads that served as a shortcut to the city, the question of just what could have caused this massive of a disturbance plagued him, hovering above like a storm cloud. As much as he had tried to push the thought back, it seemed to be something his mind wouldn't let go of. Knowing the area's history, he doubted it was a fluke; Soleanna was, at least to him, notorious for being the epicenter of supernatural happenings, especially those involving Chaos energy. He frowned slightly, remembering the worst of them all that, at the same time, never even happened to begin with.

It was a conundrum, the Solaris event. Never again spoken of, hell, he wasn't even sure if anyone but him knew of it; all those even close to being involved were...well...gone. Lost to time, or, in the case of a few, the timeline. However, the hedgehog remembered those times as clear as if they had happened yesterday. He often wondered why he and Faker had remembered when everyone else was oblivious. _Ignorance is bliss, is it not?_

Chaos, what he would have given to forget...

It had all started decades ago, when a king hoped to use the power of the sun god, Solaris, in vain, dividing the creature into two. The power, Iblis, and the mind, Mephiles. Thankfully, they were contained with little effort. Ten years passed, and they weren't so easy to bring down.

A jumbled mess of time-travel, deception, fighting, and all-out destruction of the timeline later and Solaris was gone, but the universe rewrote itself, removing the entire event from history. He shouldn't remember it, there was just no reason for him to. Yet, the memories were still engraved in his history, constant and unchanging.

Expressionless, he flipped a switch on the bike to turn some music on on; a hard rock song by Crush 40 blared from the speakers. He turned it up, letting the bass drown out the noise in his head. He welcomed the distraction and kept driving, watching as paved road turned to dirt. It winded across the side of a cliff, the steep drop-off below filled with crashing ocean waves. Shadow absentmindedly wondered why there wasn't a guard rail on the left side, being that one could easily drive off it.

"Someone needs to fix that."

Shrugging, he looked down at the GPS. Soleanna wasn't too far now. Just a couple of miles and-

"ARGHHHH!"

A wave of energy pulsed through the air, and Shadow nearly yelped in pain, his bike swerving to the right as he clutched the sides of his head, skull splitting in two. His vision swam, a greenish tint veiling his eyes while his pulse jumped. It felt like the very fibers of his being were being ripped apart by an invisible force, strong and unforgiving. Then, just as quickly as it had come, the feeling vanished. He slammed on the brakes, and chunks of gravel were flung away from the tires as the bike skidded to a stop, leaving him face to face with the side of the mountain, gasping for breath.

As the seconds ticked by, Shadow started to regain control, the initial shock of burst subsiding. The sensation left him with a searing ache, every muscle tensed and quills risen in defense. Except there was nothing there. At least, not anymore.

_Chaos energy..._

_I've never felt it so intense, so strong._

For the first time in a long time, raw, untamed fear shuddered through his spine. He had always been able to sense the presence of Chaos energy, but it never caused him actual, physical pain. It never made him cower before its might. Yet here he kneeled, succumbing to the wrath of Chaos. It wasn't natural, and it was almost certainly a threat. He was afraid of what that could mean. Was it a warning? A message of some kind?

_The Emeralds..._

In an instant, he grabbed the two Chaos Emeralds from behind him, one green and one scarlet. Holding them out, he could see that the gems were unscathed, though they glowed with an otherworldly light, dim, yet nonetheless there. Shadow could feel their steady pulse of energy; it flickered across their surfaces like lightning, the sparking power crackling on his fingertips. He felt a sense of unease as he stared into their depths. Another source was nearby. Something that could possibly be more powerful than the Master Emerald itself.

His stomach twisted itself up in knots. All he had were questions. And all he felt was ice-cold dread, panic and fear stirring inside him.

What did Soleanna and the 'meteor' have to do with this?

A single, awful name slipped into his mind.

_Solaris._


End file.
